National minorities in Macedonia

Flags proposed for the Albanian minority

Five flags have been proposed for the Albanian minority in Macedonia (website, 27 April 2012):
- a red flag with a vertical yellow stripe placed along the hoist and the Albanian eagle shifted to the hoist;
- a red flag with a thin horizontal yellow stripe on top and bottom and the Albanian eagle shifted to the hoist;
- the same design, but with the eagle in the middle of the flag;
- a flag diagonally divided red-black per bend sinister with the Albanian eagle in the red triangle;
- a red flag with a vertical black stripe placed along the hoist and an Albanian eagle, countercoloured, shifted to the hoist.

Milan Jovanović, 7 August 2013

Flags proposed for the Turkish minority

Two flags have been proposed for the Serbian minority in Macedonia (website, 6 July 2012):
- a Turkish national flag with two hoizontal yellow stripes placed near the top and bottom;
- a Macedonian national flag with the Turksih crescent and star in the middle, presented as the flag of the Macedonian-Turkish association "Mustafa Kemal Ataturk" of Bitola..

Flag proposals by the Macedonian Heraldry Society

Flag proposals for the Albanian minority in Macedonia - Images by Željko Heimer, 25 June 2005

Flag proposal for the Rom minority in Macedonia - Image by Željko Heimer, 25 June 2005

Flag proposals for the Serbian minority in Macedonia - Images by Željko Heimer, 25 June 2005

Flag proposals for the Turkish minority in Macedonia - Images by Željko Heimer, 25 June 2005

The Macedonian Heraldry Society unveiled proposals for the new flags to be used by national minorities in Macedonia (press release, 21 June 2005).
Basically, the issue is that Macedonians would not like that the minorities
use the flags of their national state in vicinity. Therefore they would like to have the minorities' flags defaced with a symbol that would connect the minorities'
flags with their homeland Macedonia (much like it was done with the
addition of the red star in the minorities' flags in former Yugoslavia).

The Macedonian Heraldry Society proposed a solution that would minimally
deface the flag and yet effectively signal loyalty to Macedonia: the addition of a yellow or bicolour yellow and red vertical stripe fimbriated white near the hoist. The first proposal includes a vertical yellow stripe near the hoist of the flag, the width of the stripe is 1/21 of the length,
separated from the hoist of the same width. The second proposal includes a similar stripe but bicolour, yellow and red fimbriated white against the flag background.
The sets of proposals drafted by the Macedonian Heraldry Society provide flags for Albanians, Roma, Serbs, and Turks. The proposals are designed so that a similar flag could be designed for any other minority, once it decides about it.

Željko Heimer, 25 June 2005

Law on the flags of national minorities

This law was abrogated by the Constitutional Court short after its release.

Law on the use of flags through which the members of the
nationalities in The Republic of Macedonia express their identity and
the national particularityZakon za upotrebata na znaminja preku koi pripadnicite na
nacionalnostite vo Republika Makedonija go izrazuvaat svojot
identitet i nacionalnite osobenosti

I. General Prescriptions.

Article 1.
This Law determines the use of flags through which the members of the
nationalities in The Republic of Macedonia express their identity and
the national particularity.

Article 2.
The members of the nationalities in the Republic of Macedonia have the
right to use a flag to express their identity and the national
particularity.
The flag of Paragraph 1 of this Article is considered to be a flag
that the members of the nationality have chosen and are using as a
flag to express their identity and the national particularity.

II. Use of the flag through which the members of the nationalities in
the Republic of Macedonia express their identity and the national
particularity.

Article 3.
The members of the nationalities have right to use the flag from
Article 2 of the Law while celebrating in their private lives and
when maintaining cultural, sporting and other manifestations
organized by the members of the nationalities in the Republic of
Macedonia.

Article 4.
The flag from Article 2 of this Law may not be displayed in front
and in these objects and institutions:
- The Parliament of the Republic of Macedonia, the Presidency of the Republic of Macedonia, the Government of the Republic of Macedonia, government institutions, courts, the office of the Public Attorney General of the Republic of Macedonia, the Constitutional Court of the Republic of Macedonia, and the National Bank of the Republic of Macedonia;
- Institutions of the units of local self-government;
- Public services and companies that are established by the Republic
of Macedonia or the units of local self-government and other public
objects, companies, societies, and organizations.

Article 5.
In the units of local self-government in which the members of one
nationality have relative majority, in the holydays of the Republic
of Macedonia determined by Law, beside the state flag in front of
the institutions of the units of local self-government, it could be
displayed also a flag through which the members of that nationality
express their identity and the national particularity.

III. Penal Provisions.

Article 6.
A fee between 50.000 and 200.000 denars shall be fined for
an offence to a legal person who uses the flag from Article 2
against the provisions of Article 4 of this Law.
For the offence of Pparagraph 1 of this Article, it shall be fined
between 30.000 and 50.000 and with a jail sentence between 30 and
90 days the responsible person from the legal person.

IV. Final Provision.

Article 7.
This Law becomes valid on the day of its publishing in Službeni
vesnik na Republika Makedonija (the official gazette of the State).